Murray qualifies for Tour Finals with Dimitrov win

By Julien Pretot PARIS (Reuters) - Andy Murray's recent resurgence continued when the Briton qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals by reaching the Paris Masters quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-3 win against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday. After dropping outside the world top 10 following his U.S. Open quarter-final exit, Murray began a late push for a spot in the London showpiece event, which features eight of the best players this season. The eighth seed showed he was up to the task by seeing off ninth-seeded Dimitrov, who is now eliminated from the race for the Nov. 10-16 event at London's O2. Murray will take on either world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia or France's Gael Monfils for a semi-final spot. "There were no downs really in the match," Murray told reporters after becoming the fifth player to book his place in the season finale. "Some of the matches that I've had against the top, top players I had some periods in the match where my level had dropped off a little bit, and the best players capitalise on those moments. "I didn't have any of them today. I played well from start to finish and I made it very difficult for Grigor." FEDERER THROUGH Second seed Roger Federer dismissed French qualifier Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-4 and now faces Milos Raonic, who can still qualify for the Tour Finals. The Canadian fired down 23 aces in his 7-5 7-6(7) win over Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut. However, third seed Stan Wawrinka was knocked out in the third round when he lost 6-7(2) 7-5 7-6(3) against South African Kevin Anderson, suffering his fourth defeat in five matches. The Swiss, who has already booked a place in the Tour Finals, had lost his opening matches in the three previous tournaments he had entered. A solid performance in the second round in Paris against Austrian Dominic Thiem was followed by an erratic display against the 14th seeded Anderson, who served 18 aces. Wawrinka saved two match points to force a tiebreak in the decider, but was unable to match Anderson, who upped his level to book a quarter-final spot against Czech Tomas Berdych. Berdych kept his Tour Finals hopes alive with a 7-5 6-3 win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez as did Japan's sixth seed Kei Nishikori who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1 4-6 6-4 and can make the season-ending event by reaching the semi-finals in Paris. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis and Ken Ferris)